A League of Their Own: Remix
by Hina Kariachi Hakubi
Summary: When an opportunity to visit the Justice League's Watchtower goes awry, Dakota's Finest are faced with a fight that will determine the fate of the Earth, and of themselves. (Daemon AU episode rewrite, with supernatural elements)
1. The Initial Assault

"Batman, Raven, how goes the security check?" Turning away from Hawkgirl, Raven huffed, rearranging her wings and hunching over on her perch.

"All six levels of the stasis field are intact," Batman answered, carefully ignoring his daemon. There was no reason to risk getting her ranting now when he'd be hearing all about how she hated that name and would rather be Batcrow for the millionth time later anyway.

"Thank fuck."

"Onthar!" Fur on end, the alien daemon hopped up onto the control panel beside Batman's, tails wrapping around himself as he stared passed Hawkgirl at the chunk of hardware floating in a tube in the middle of the room. There was something ominous about the Brainiac symbol emblazoned on it.

"It creeps me out," he continued, as if his other half hadn't said anything, "having them here." Hawkgirl hummed agreement as she reached out to stroke him.

"Better here, where we can keep them contained, then out in the galaxy." Still she followed his gaze. It creeped her out too, creeped all of them out. Even Batman, if what Onthar said Raven said was true. "How much of them do you think is in there?"

"Too much." The other hero rose out of his chair like there weren't joints to move beneath the cape, his daemon stepping off the back of the chair and onto his shoulder as he did. "Brainiac is a regenerative program, and while we can't be sure his daemon is as well we have to assume the worst. Both intelligent viruses that will never die." He spared them a glance before turning his attention back to the mass of circuits and steel. "There's wisdom in the saying 'keep your enemies close', but there are times I wouldn't mind sending Brainiac down the nearest black hole."

"Well, it would certainly save us the room."

"Onthar!"

Any argument that may have come up was averted by a series of high, squeaking barks followed quickly by the Watchtower's alarm system blaring. Within seconds Flash and Flicker were darting through the room.

"Need everyone in the control room, we've got a problem!"

* * *

"What going on?"

"You tell us-"

"The sensors are going haywire, but we haven't been able to spot anything." Man and daemon were both checking everything they could think of, from close and long range scanners to all the cameras, at speeds all but nobody could reach. So fast that it was only moments until

"There!" The video feeds suddenly stop changing as Hawkgirl pointed at one of the displays, Onthar's eyes going wide at the shimmering line in the void headed their way.

"Shields up, Flick, now!" The prairie dog was a blur as she followed orders, darting about the appropriate panel before tucking herself in Riezen's tentacled grip as Hawkgirl's explanation rang out.

"Cosmic super string, they pack more energy than a solar flare! Brace for collision!"

Sound advice. Unlike a solar flare this string packed a serious punch, rattling the Watchtower as it passed over it. The humans and Hawkgirl were knocked to the ground, Flash and Flicker hissing as the force of the impact threw them to the edges of their bond. Onthar was only just able to catch one of Hawkgirl's feathers in his teeth, keeping them close enough for her to drag him into her arms, and Raven launched herself into the air with a squawk of alarm, landing by the side of hers as soon as it was safe to, whistling concern and nuzzling his cheek. The control panels sparked and flashed, thuds and thunks could be heard from inside. The only things seemingly unaffected were Riezen, suctioned to the control panel and with Flicker still tightly grasped, and J'onn, who had put his intangibility to good use.

"Our energy core is drained," he said once everything stopped shaking, he and his daemon both immediately going to work checking the systems. They and everyone else politely ignored Flash and Flicker coming back together in a blur.

"What about the back-up?" Batman asked. Unlike Flash and Hawkgirl, who continued to hold Onthar close to her as she flew up to check the reserves, he didn't reach out for his daemon, but those observant enough would have noticed a tilt to his head in her direction. A silent reassurance in light of her worries.

"We have some reserves left," Hawkgirl said, "but not much."

"Definitely not enough to power the whole of the station," Onthar continued, "we'll have to stick to the important stuff until we recharge."

"That may want to be now." Riezen moved forwards and tapped a tentacle against the forwards display. "Our orbit is decaying."

"The super string knocked us off course." J'onn looked back at the rest of them, "We're heading for the stratosphere, and it would take all our reserve power and more to move back into

position." Concern shot across Flash's face and he shot forward, Flicker still clasped in his arms.

"If we run around the power core at super speed, we could generate enough static electricity-"

"No," Batman said, "you could damage the core. But I do know somebody who could get us out of this, if we can reach him in time." He stepped up to the control panel, pressing buttons until news feed of a young teen, clearly a super, came up on the screen.

Raven whistled her approval.

* * *

Meanwhile, back in the Brainiac Containment Room, a program suddenly found itself with a little more room to stretch it's metaphorical legs. And, brushing it's consciousness across it's more infamous companion's, it did so with relish.

On the security monitor, a flashing series of letters- FAILURE- stopped, vanished, and were replaced.

Systems Operational.

* * *

"We're fucked."

"Jolt, I swear to God-"

Technically there were villains talking, but they weren't actually listening. It was the normal posturing, it happened every time, the only information you could gain was names and motivations, which they already knew. So instead, while Puff and Hotstreak talked shit, Static, Gear, and their daemons were focusing on the important things. Things such as how they were already sore, were thankful the fourth pair of the team wasn't anybody more threatening than Carmen Dillo and Noel, and how to not give Cam the satisfaction of being right about dying.

"So, bro," Gear said, as Hotstreak asserted their invincibility while he and Puff's daemons circled the lot like vultures, "who do we go for first?"

"The police." Puff seemed to take pleasure in their concern- which was well deserved given the heroes were vastly outnumbered by people who could do some serious damage, and Noel- given the smile on her face as she stepped forward.

"Ladies first." She formed an orb of gas between her hands, pulled back to throw and-

And was blown back by a sudden red twister that slowed to reveal the proud figures of the Flash and Flicker.

"You know something sweetie, you've got an odor problem."

Flicker's quiet, admonishing "Flash" went mostly unnoticed under Puff's furious cry. Slipping easily into her more gaseous state she rose to join Gust in the air, the coati giving a squeaky, grunting warcry as he swung low to lob his own attack at the heroes. Flash wasted no time though, spinning his arm to create a vortex that flung the attack, the daemon, and the young woman over the heads of their team and straight into the side of the brick building beyond, much to the other villains' concern. Surprisingly Carmen was the first to react, turning to the heroes with a snarl on his face for just a moment before suddenly curling in on himself, just in time to be shielded from Hawkgirl coming in from the side. One swing of her mace sent him flying into Onyx and the both of them crashing into the brickwork mere feet from Puff, the sound of falling rubble serving to cover Jet's cry of pain as her bond with Onyx was stretched and she scuttled for him at top speed, wedging herself under his arm as far as she could. Carmen unrolled across the larger Bang Baby's back with a groan and a distinctly displeased look as his daemon bounded for him with a shriek and began to frantically inspect him for major harm.

"If I knew Static was friends with the Justice League," he said, "I wouldn't have joined you boneheads. Not even to _do laundry_." Hotstreak, through all this, actually managed to seem worried about the situation, though that didn't last long. About as long as it took for Stella to land heavily on his shoulder, wings and crest already spread and flaming even before he lit up himself. An intimidating scene, and one cut very short by the newly arrived Batman with the help of a grenade canister of extinguishing foam.

All in all, a very short fight. Maybe a minute and a half.

"Yo, how come you never told us you were down with these big dogs?" Gear and Socket both had their mouths gaping with shock, the wolf's ears pressed back.

"Cause, it's, a secret," Jolt haltingly replied, she and Static carrying a very similar look themselves.

"So secret even we didn't know… Yo, Batman," Slowly Static and Jolt landed as the renowned hero approached them, "thanks for the help but, don't you guys have a galaxy to save or something?" It just, didn't make sense why the Justice League would send some of their to people to come, what? Help a few newbies put away some comparatively minor crooks?

" _We_ need _your_ help, Static, Jolt." Okay, now things made even less sense. Static could practically feel the fur on the back of Jolt's neck trying to stick up and could taste electricity jumping between her ears and fake antlers.

"Say what?" This had to be a joke of some sort. Batman didn't _do_ jokes, but, surely there was a first time for everything.

"We need you to come to the Watchtower."

"The Watchtower? Up there?" He still was struggling to believe it, pointing as he spoke- "That one?" This wasn't a joke was it? The Justice League needed his help and wanted him to come to the Watchtower. He could feel a grin begin splitting his face and Jolt started making a high-pitched, excited noise at his side.

"Ooo ooo! Can we come too?!" Gear looked just as hyped as he came down to join them on the ground, and Socket was too excited to both with a slow descent, instead thudding down to the asphalt with his tail going a mile a minute.

"Can we please? _Please_?!"

"This isn't a field trip," Hawkgirl noted, walking over with Onthar and looking at Gear and Socket like, well, like they were overly excited teenagers. Which managed to curb their enthusiasm for about three-quarters of a second before they started back up.

"Please, oh please!"

"You can stuff us in the stowaway bin!"

"And when we get up there, we'll stand in a corner!"

"You can pick which one!" By which point Gear was halfway to puppy-eyes and Socket had reached _maximum_ puppy-eye, lying on his belly with his tail wagging and staring up at Onthar like he was God. The older daemon laughed.

"Alright, alright, you can come." The look Hawkgirl shot him was unimpressed at best, but like any pair they had a lifetime of practice ignoring each other's disapproval and he was downright smug when Batman stepped in.

"Come on, we need to move fast," he said, and with a friendly croak from Raven on top of it, well, that was that.

* * *

"Cooool…" It was a quartet of voices, all with the exact same degree of awe. Static and Gear both looked like they couldn't wait to get their hands on, well, everything. Jolt scrambled her way up Socket's side to get a better view of it all. It was just, amazing. They'd all _thought_ about it, had their pipe dreams about getting to come up to the League's Watchtower, but they'd never actually expected to ever see inside. It was as amazing as they'd imagined.

"We've made it to geek heaven," Gear said, reaching out to stroke Socket's ear as they crossed the doorway, all four beelining for the various control panels and monitors. "Look! It's some sort've multiphasic monitoring system! I'll bet it can pick up any broadcast signal on Earth!" As soon as he began to rub his hands together Jolt was up on Socket's head, forepaws on the control panel as they inspected it. This, unfortunately, left her in the perfect position to the surprised by J'onn rising up out of the panel, Riezen chuckling from where they'd gone unnoticed by the monitors as she tumbled back down the wolf daemon's side, landing on her feet in a mess of sparks.

"I've got the power conduits all set for Static, I'll see you in the control room." And just like he'd came the Martian was gone, his daemon rolling down to the floor and making their way with surprising speed across the room. It was a sight to behold- no matter how many times you saw them on TV, you just were never prepared to watch the love child of an octopus, a nautilus, and a slug make their way passed your feet.

"Okay… I still don't understand," Static said, shaking his head to clear out the strange image, "what's going on?"

"We were hit by a cosmic anomaly, it drained the Watchtower's central powercore," Batman explained as he and Hawkgirl lead them after Riezen, "we need you to recharge it for us."

"Recharge the station?"

"Us?"

"Don't you guys have jumper cables?" They were honored of course, but, really? This was _Batman_ speaking, shouldn't he have had back-up generators in place? That _weren't_ teenagers?

J'onn was waiting for them in the main control room, his daemon perched on his shoulder.

"These conduits lead straight to the power core at the center of the Watchtower," he said, "here's where you can feed in your energy." All in all the whole thing was, surprisingly underwhelming, now that they had a 'why'.

"Some grand adventure," Static muttered. Jolt didn't even bother with muttering.

"Do I _look_ like the Energizer Bunny to you people?" Static had too much of her in him to flinch like Gear and Socket did, but it still was nice to hear Raven immediately start chuckling. Supposedly she wasn't the talkative sort, but at least she had a sense of humor. Batman, on the other hand…

"One way to look at is," he said in a tone of voice they recognized from their parents and occasionally Sharon and Asher, "you're preventing the station from crashing down somewhere on Earth. Quite possibly Dakota." Well, when he put it that way. Static pulled down his goggles and Jolt hopped up to wedge herself into the space available.

"We'll just get on charging the station, huh?"

"Good idea."

* * *

It wasn't the most entertaining job around, how's that? All Static and Jolt were doing was expending as many calories as possible in the most boring way possible while Gear and Socket hung out in a corner specially chosen by Hawkgirl. There was the brief 'excitement' of finally reaching enough power to re-establish the satellite's orbit, which went by with minimal fanfare, but for the most part nothing happened until Gear chose the worst time to try to get a photo. Before he could even make a real attempt he was in mid-air, surrounded by a green glow while Socket stood at alert below him, hackles raised as he glared at the brindled dog beside Green Lantern.

"Easy, GL." Flash and Flicker quickly came to the rescue, Flash going to Green Lantern's side while Flicker took position between the canine daemons. "Sparky's buddy." Gear was spared a Look before he was placed down gently and his camera returned to him, though Lauretta continued to give Socket a hard stare for several seconds before following after her human with a blunt

"No pictures."

"Alright Static," Batman said, clearly unfazed by what had gone down, to nobody's surprise, "now that Green Lantern's back, he can take it from here."

"Good," Static said, notably tired as he backed away, his gloves smoking, "I feel like a grilled patty." Jolt didn't even manage that much, just to slide out of the section of wall with a groan and shuffle her way after her other half. Gear and Socket automatically rose to meet them, the wolf loping forward to nuzzle Jolt.

"Come on, small fry." She halfheartedly kicked at him, but then quickly let him stick his head under her belly so she draped across his neck.

"We don't have to go yet, do we?" Gear said when he reached Static's side. "So far I've only seen one corner of the room!" They certainly hoped not, the electrical pair was exhausted and hungry. Which didn't even make sense for Jolt, she was a _daemon_ , the didn't even _need_ to eat! But she was starving just as much as Static was, which only made her more aggravated when a blaring alarm began assaulting her poor ears.

"It's Nivelus II," Hawkgirl said, attention fully on the monitor in front of her, "there's an asteroid swarm heading for their planet."

"That would take all of us to deal with," Riezen added as the League members grouped together around Hawkgirl. Flash frowned.

"Well, there goes our afternoon." The younger set of heroes all looked at each other. There were a lot of things they were prepared to deal with, fighting crime in Dakota pretty much required flexibility, but asteroid swarms were not on their resumes. Hawkgirl seemed to realize this.

"What about them?" she asked.

"The Watchtower isn't fully recharged, they'll have to stay here, just in case." For the first time since their meeting she didn't look annoyed, instead she was visibly concerned as she watched Batman walk away with Raven pecking at one of the ears of his cowl.

"Alone?" That was anything but a problem for them, the idea of being alone in the Watchtower was enough to perk even Jolt up, and the fact the rest of the Justice League seemed cool with it only helped.

"As long as they don't touch anything, they should be fine."

"Yeah, you guys are old enough to stay home by yourselves, right?" The teens' faces split into grins.

"Right!"

"Definitely!" Hawkgirl didn't look convinced, and in fact neither did some of the daemons, but they didn't push any further. Instead Onthar crossed some of the distance between the groups and leveled them with a firm look.

"The cafeteria is down the hall, fourth door on the right," he said, just before Lauretta came up behind him.

"Don't touch anything, behave yourselves, and stay safe." The boys nodded vigorously, and Socket did his best equivalent to a salute.

"Yes ma'am!"

* * *

"The cheap stuff, I cannot believe-"

"You've been whining about this for thirty minutes."

"It's not even _bad_."

"That's not the _point_ , the point is that nobody who owns their own satellite should have a freezer full of _cheap pizza_. They did this to spite us." There were groans all around.

"They did not do this to spite us."

"No, they clearly did." Richie shook his head, tearing into his pizza only a hair more ravenously than his friends as Virgil dropped his face into his hands and Abe continued the ongoing argument.

"Cam, Sharon, where did they even _get_ the attitude, man?" Not even bothering to look up, Virgil raised a finger knowingly.

"Gran."

"Ahh." He took another large bite. "Ya know, I hope the League doesn't mind us raiding the fridge." Virgil chuckled, dropping his feet down off the table- just barely missing Abe, likely on instinct alone- and grabbing up his plate.

"Hey, we're growing superheroes," he said as he headed for the sink, "and Cam and I just spent every calorie we've ever earned charging up this place."

"We have _earned_ this pizza," the jackrabbit added, her own slice jealously guarded from the menfolk- she _knew_ Richie and Abe, "even if it is cheap."

"You really need to-" Virgil went quiet, freezing as the screen in front of him wavered, showing something that almost had looked like some sort've face…. He turned back to the others. "Did you see that?"

"See what?" Richie was fully engrossed in his pizza, and Abe was just as bad. Well, at least his daemon had been paying attention, her ears straight up and back tense.

"There was a face looking at us, on the screen. It didn't look human." Richie and Abe scoffed in unison.

"Big deal. We just spent the day with a Martian and a Thanagarian."

At which point more alarms started going.

Immediately Richie's feet were off the table and his hand was in Abe's fur, while Cam catapulted herself into Virgil's arms.

"This _cannot_ be good." And it wasn't. Within heartbeats of the alarm starting the outer door began to open, leading directly into the dark vacuum of space. The only good news was that the chairs and table were bolted to the floor, meaning that when things began to be sucked out into space Virgil and Richie could latch onto the nearest seats and Abe could hook himself around the table's leg. The biggest risk was to Cam, clenched tight against Virgil's chest with one arm while he tried to keep them from flying off with the other. She did the first thing that came to mind, trying to use her powers to force the doors to shut again, only to fail. Richie nearly lost his grip and Abe, in response, began to whine.

"Cam, get the cabinets!" Ears perking at Virgil's request, she quickly found the ones he was talking about and took aim, electricity arcing between her ears and antlers. A burst of power had the screws coming free, leaving the cabinet to be dragged across the room and, being taller than the door, block it enough to lessen the pull of the vacuum. As soon as the force wasn't enough to drag them away the quartet leapt to their feet and bolted for the door, Virgil and Richie clamping their daemons between themselves and the walls for their own safety. But this door wouldn't shut either, no matter how many times Virgil slammed on the appropriate button.

"One sec, we can maybe override the controls!" Immediately BacPac was on the job, plugging into a nearby control panel, and not a second too soon as the cabinet finally gave way. The shutting of the doors, and with them the arrival of safety, finally, came with a mass of relieved groans.

"Ya know," Virgil said, slumping against the wall, "I think I've lost my appetite." Richie nodded.

"Yeah, me too."

"For now," Abe scoffed, and the others couldn't help a tiny, relieved chuckle.

"Yeah, for now."

* * *

"I'm not sure this is a good idea, we don't wanna make the J League mad." Gear paused in his typing to look at Static and Jolt. "You saw how Hawknose swung that mace!"

"I think she'll live." Socket's voice had had a distinct growl to it ever since they'd escaped the cafeteria and he now was pacing back and forth between the others and the door like, well, a caged wolf. They'd set up shop in the nearest room with access to the Tower's systems, with no care as to actual purpose, hoping to find information.

"All I want," Static said, Jolt back in his arms again, "is to know why this place almost killed us."

"First, they use us as battery power, then the cheap pizza, now this- I'm lodging a formal complaint."

"You do that, Small Fry." Somehow the quartet managed to become tenser when the door opened, something that didn't go away when all that entered was a robot pushing a vacuum cleaner. If anything, that seemed to make Socket more aggravated, in true canine fashion, and Jolt even growled when it grew a brush and started trying to clean off her and Static.

"Relax Jolt, it's just a cleaning bot," he said, stroking her, even when she scoffed.

"You act like we weren't just almost killed by a pair of malicious doors."

"They weren't malicious, just _suspicious_."

"Six of one, half dozen of the other, look." Everyone turned to Richie and the screen in front of him, letting the robot putter halfway out the door unnoticed. "The stations firewalls are expanding. Like something's taken over and locking everybody else out." Pointedly ignoring the quiet "yay, the station is evil" from his personal peanut gallery, Static eyed the displays on view.

"Can you isolate whatever it is?" With hardly a nod Gear went to work, typing away as Static and Jolt watched on. Meanwhile, Socket returned to his pacing, taking note of the robot that hadn't quite left. Especially the way it seemed to deactivate as the firewall display became smaller.

"It's slippery, but I think I've got it. The League files have it ID'd, a virus called… Brainiac?" A green face, vaguely familiar, appeared on the screen.

"That's the face from the cafeteria!" Static clutched his daemon tighter. "But what's it doing in the League's system?"

"Correction. Our system. I've been growing exponentially ever since we sent the Justice League away." If the words hadn't been creepy and ominous enough on their own, the monotone in which they were spoken would easily have done the job. A computer putting words together, that was all. Instinctively Gear tried to reach out for Socket.

"What?"

"I summoned them away with a false distress call. When you are disposed of, the last human infestation will be gone from the Watchtower, then I will-"

There was what could only be called a roar behind them.

Static and Gear spun on their heels, eyes blowing wide at the sight of the robot from before flailing, the brush replaced with a _buzzsaw_ of all things. Socket was latched onto that arm, snarling and using the powers granted him by his Settled form- bone-crushing teeth and the stamina to hold onto an elk until it gave up- to keep it away from the rest of the team. They could only watch the events unfold, unable to help for fear of catching Socket in the crossfire, nobody breathing until with one final swing the wolf was lobbed across the room. Socket hit the opposing wall with a yipe in the same instant Gear collapsed to the ground, breath knocked out of him by the twang of distance across their bond. Not a snap, but still further apart than they should ever have been.

"Socket!" Brainiac watched impassively as Gear rose enough to launch himself towards his daemon and Jolt leapt to the floor to face the threat head-on with Static.

"Be quick, Del."

"Of course." Somehow the voice from the robot was worse, like Brainiac's but, vaguely distorted. Nobody noticed Brainiac's face phase out, Static and Jolt focused entirely on the fight. Namely, in blasting the cleaning-bot into three separate pieces. It was surprisingly easy, just one combined hit to the less-than-nimble machine had done it, but then the voice had tutted at them from the room's speakers and a panel had opened, releasing a number of ambulatory cables that would've caught them up had they both not been sparking like ball lightning out of pure worry and protectiveness. Really they'd felt about ready to take on the world alone, they may have had to with their partners temporarily unavailable, but alas they weren't quite that good. Another panel had opened in the floor and up had risen another, larger, more clearly offensive robot. A solid blast knocked it back and into the wall, but it just got right back up like nothing had happened at all. So, they'd gone directly to Plan B.

Drag Gear and Socket to their feet and run like Hell was on their heels. Which it seemed to be, with the voices echoing through the halls.

"There is nothing you can do."

"And no point in trying to hide."

* * *

"Control room? Maybe we can get a distress call out?"

"As good a bet as any!"

* * *

Sudden static broke the silence of the ship's cockpit (well, the near silence of the ship's cockpit, but everyone was politely ignoring Raven, Flicker, and Onthar's gossiping). It was difficult to make out, a weak and bumpy signal that sounded like Gear right up until a boost from Green Lantern's ring proved it to be the teen. Worried and with his daemon half in his lap.

"Distress call fake! Repeat- distress call faked! Brainiac loose in-" with a bark Socket vaulted Gear's lap and disappeared off screen, followed closely by the boy as his eyes went wide calling "Static! Volt, look out!"

The message cut out there.

For the briefest of moments the ship was silent, reeking of dread, concern, horror, before nine spines stiffened as one. Without a word they banked towards home, every face grimly serious, Riezen flashing warning colors, fur and feathers both on end.

"If they've hurt so much as a single hair on those children I will flush them down a black hole _myself_!"

* * *

"The launch bays aren't responding, we can't get in." Such simple words, yet the tension in the ship bumped up several levels at the speaking of them. It bumped up several more levels when Brainiac showed himself in a flashy light show on the outside of the base. Thirty-two minutes, it had taken them thirty-two minutes to get back (less than it should have, but really, what was frying the engines if it meant they could save the kids and defeat Brainiac?) How has he gotten this much control so quickly? How long had he been in control? How much had he taken over already when they left?

Could they have prevented this?

Hawkgirl and Onthar had been in their spacesuits for fifteen minutes, and as soon as Brainiac showed his face they, Green Lantern, and Lauretta undid their seatbelts and headed for the exit. Not that there was much they could do, immediately the Watchtowers outer defenses were turned on them and the ship, but at least they had to try.

"I can't connect to any of the systems inside," Batman said, not showing the same worry they knew he felt from the way Raven loomed on his shoulder, "Brainiac has completely cut us off. But maybe I can still reach Static and Gear." Precious seconds passed.

"Static, Gear, come in, what is your situation?"

…

"Static, Gear?"

"Let's just say there's room for improvement!"

* * *

They were caught. Or, well, Static and Gear were caught. Socket and Jolt were trying to get them free, but it was hard when the robot slowly squeezing your people to death was that many times your size and kept trying to step on you. Mostly what it meant was they were dodging while Jolt occasionally blasted the thing and Socket tried to figure out if he could disable it. Unfortunately, they were starting to get annoying.

"It's time to get rid of you pests," the robot- Del, Brainiac had called it Del- said, clamping down harder on the boys. For a moment it looked like Jolt was going to start launching herself headfirst at it out of desperation- nothing she did was stopping it and if she hit any harder she might hurt her own- before Socket snatched her up in his teeth and out of the way of a foot.

"Found it," he whispered, "distraction, now!"

And well, what else was she to do but listen? In two bounds she'd scrambled her way onto Del's head, sparking and bouncing and refusing to be shaken off. She caught brief glimpses of Socket, the browns, greys, teals of his disguise and costume, but couldn't get a solid look until he leapt away from the thing and howled for her. She kicked off it's head and landed beside him, swearing to herself she'd later take a moment to worry about the golden Dust drifting from his claws and teeth, and turned to see a discarded panel and an expanse of freshly uninsulated wiring. The pair grinned together.

"Fry it."

And in a flash of arcing electricity she did.

The machine collapsed, clamping hands reflexively opening and shutting, dropping their boys to the floor where the two daemons rushed to them. In a flurry of limbs they got to their feet and started running, not caring where they went as long as it was away from whatever the viruses decided to throw at them next.

* * *

"Batman, you still there?" Rarely were the League so happy to hear someone else's voice on their lines. Especially since they'd now managed to regain access to the security cameras.

"I've located your position, you're heading straight for the central power core. You need to shut it down."

"How are we gonna do that?!"

"You need to _drain_ the core this time, and absorb it's energy."

"Oh thank fuck, we really could use it back about now!" Batman ignored the young daemon's comment, and the way Flash, Flicker, and Raven were snickering at it.

"I've been jamming our communications so he won't know our plan, and now the Justice League is going to provide a major distraction. So get going. Over and out."

* * *

"I'm going to assume this is it," Socket said as they approached a massive door that certainly _looked_ important.

"I hope so," Virgil said. Removing BacPac from his perch, Gear set him on the wall next to a nearby control panel where he began to force access. And apparently it worked, the doors opened, exposing a massive glass tower surging with electricity. Static and Jolt breathed deep as they approached it, rolling their shoulders. "Keep BacPac plugged in, just in case."

"Will do." With a quiet whine, Socket propped himself up on the wall with his forepaws so he could whisper back and forth with his.

"We could-"

"That could work-"

"It _would_ work-"

The conversation went quick, and it had to because before Static and Jolt could get started a pair of cables burst down the hallway, nearly knocking Gear and Socket over, and wrapping the electrical pair tight. A 'Plan B' was definitely required as Brainiac reappeared and began to monologue.

"I am everywhere, I am everything, you cannot defeat us-" Who knows for certain whether the virus planned to continue further than that, as that was the point when music started playing through the Tower's speakers. Villain and heroes alike stopped to level a firm look at the pair in the hall.

"Really, Gear?! _Really_?!"

"Perfect time!" The supergenius was grinning a toothy one to match his daemon's. "One song downloaded 100 million times!"

"Let's see just how good their memory is!"

Not good enough, apparently, as quickly Brainiac began to flicker, words becoming choppy and hard to understand as he lagged and skipped, he and Del losing enough control to release Static and Jolt, who immediately set to work taking back the power they'd put into the satellite in a hail of green sparks.

"N-n-n-n-no! I c-c-c-c-caaaaaaannot be defeated I am B-b-b-b-b-raaaaaiiiiiniac-ac-ac-ac! One d-d-day I will-ill-ill be b-back-"

* * *

Too many crises solved for one day, the set soon found themselves back on Earth, out behind their base surrounded by smiling Justice League members.

"You did well, both of you," which, so far, from Hawkgirl, was some pretty major praise. Still, this was the Justice League. And it was _only_ one little assault by Brainiac.

"All in a day's work for us superheroes, right?" The League's looks were fond as J'onn responded to Static.

"Do not make light of your accomplishments, this was a very serious matter."

"Yeah." Flash ruffled their hair, or as well as he could given Gear's helmet, while Flicker rubbed herself against Jolt and Socket's legs. "You dweebs saved the world today." Dakota's Finest shared a relatively long look. They, had not realized it was quite that serious.

"So, when I'm looking for work this summer, can I put that on my resume?" Both teens looked hopeful, though apparently for very different reasons.

"All _I_ want," Gear said, "is just one picture, just so I can believe this happened in the morning." Socket, again, immediately busted out the puppy-eyes, and again the League didn't seem impressed. Until Onthar strolled forward, that is.

"Just be sure to get my good side, kid."

* * *

Virgil and Cam left for home first, to nobody's surprise. Richie and Abe weren't _terribly_ fond of home and both tended to get caught up in their own shit. So there was no shock when they were left alone, nor when they took another half hour or so to get their things together. No, that came when a shocked yipe and thud rang through the gas station, Richie spinning away from his computer to see his daemon too still on the pile of blankets he'd claimed his own, their favorite invention downright _looming_ over him.

"Abe? BacPac? What's wrong?!" Richie took a step forward, brow creased with his concern as BacPac turned to face him.

When the machine pounced, it's eye glowed a familiar green…


	2. Five Days Later

"We're sorry, we don't know what's been going on with them." It was a bit of a relief to see Isaac worried, meant they weren't the only ones to notice Richie and Abe had been, weird, the past several days.

"Well, they're up," Mrs Foley said as she left her son's room and joined her daemon on the stairs, reaching out to compulsively toy with the wolfdog's fur. "They're still acting strange, but they're up." She huffed a little laugh. "If Richie's appetite wasn't getting _worse_ , I'd be considering calling a professional." They all forced laughter at that. If nothing else, as long as Richie was eating they could assume the two weren't _dying_ or something. Even if they'd suddenly stopped going on patrol, and begun spending less and less time at school, and basically were seemingly dropping off the face of the Earth.

There was a reason Virgil and Cam had come over to walk them to school rather than waiting to meet up on the way.

"We'll see if we can find out what's up," Cam said as the young pair headed up the stairs, Virgil offering a warm smile that Mrs Foley returned.

"Thank you, we'd greatly appreciate it. Just…" She trailed off, only to have Isaac pick up the sentence.

"Don't push them? If you could?" Well, that was an odd request in the circumstances, but they shrugged it off.

"Sure thing."

"Thank you, Virgil."

The scene they walked into was almost normal, Richie getting dressed, Abe packing their bookbag, but it wasn't _right_. There was no smile when Virgil called Richie's name, no wagging tail when Cam leapt playfully at Abe. Their expressions were flat and disinterested. Their movements were, off. It was disconcerting.

"Hey, you okay man?" Virgil ran a hand through his locks as he spoke. This wasn't like them, and he and Cam really were concerned. Richie's face remained inexpressive.

"Never better." Even his voice was distant, cold. Like he didn't want to be there talking to his _bestfriend_ of all people. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, you haven't been on patrol lately-"

"You missed school yesterday-"

"You sleep in all the time now-"

"And hygiene is suddenly completely lost on you." As she said it Cam took a knot in Abe's fur between her teeth and pulled. The wolf didn't even seem to notice besides looking down at her with a long, slow blink.

"We've been, preoccupied," Richie said.

"With what?" What could they be preoccupied with that would have them skipping school, but not telling Virgil and Cam about it? "You know you can tell us anything."

"Are you upset, are you sick," Cam added, placing her forepaws on Abe's leg, "did you hit your head when Del threw you? We're your friends, we want to help."

For a brief moment there was almost emotion in Richie's face- wide eyes, open mouth, a flash of teeth- before he shut down again. Abe rose smoothly to his feet and shoved the bookbag into his hand, almost herding him out the door without so much as a backwards glance at Virgil and Cam.

"Come along, we're late."

* * *

Lunch had been disappointing the past few days, especially for Wally- who could easily go through seven or eight meals a day. The last pizza had vanished, nobody had bothered to restock, and so they were stuck with more mediocre fare. More specifically he was stuck with a Lean Cuisine, which really defeated the purpose of his meals, but they were all that was left. The only plus was that Effie didn't seem to mind, strewn out on her back on the table, chewing away at a noodle and happily meeping as he scratched her belly. It was a charmingly domestic scene that unfortunately wasn't built to last.

"Flash, Flicker, we have a job for you." In a blur the food was gone- probably using more calories than they gained back in the process- and they were standing at alert, Flicker sat at Lauretta's feet for a brief nuzzle.

"What do you need, GL," Wally said with a smile that Green Lantern returned to a lesser degree.

"Turns out nobody checked Gear's computer before we took the kids back home, we need you to track him down and scan it. He plugged it into the systems a lot while Brainiac had control and we want to make sure he didn't spread in there." He pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to Flash. "Batman got a picture off the security cameras."

"Huh," Flash said as he gave it a look, kneeling so Flicker could also see the image of two teens and their daemons stuffing their faces at the table they'd just left, "that solves the case of the missing pizza." Rising again with a grin, he saluted. "We'll be back in two shakes of a lamb's tail!"

* * *

Really it wasn't all that difficult to find Gear and Socket. There were a lot of people in Dakota, but they had super speed on their side and it wasn't as if there were a lot of people with wolves out there. All they'd need to do was check every short-haired blond with a wolf by their side that they saw, which was an incredibly short list. Sure there was the brief flirting detour- which earned Flash a nip on the calf from his daemon- but in the end it took them less than half an hour to find a blond with a wolf, and while said daemon was stark white instead of Socket's browns and greys the face on the human matched perfectly. Or, well, mostly perfectly.

"Gear, we've been looking all over for you!"

"What do you want?" The expressions were distant, Gear's face a little long, Socket's steps a little too even, and the tone of the young hero's voice…

"Gee, nice to see you too." Flicker skirted around to Flash's other side as he spoke, away from the wolf and the homemade scooter. "Slow down, I need to see that computer of yours."

One quick, sharp glance their way and Gear turned to pull off into the nearest alley, Socket coming up behind him and just, stopping. No slowing. They both looked at the older hero pair with cold expressions far from the puppy-like excitement of just days before.

"What for?" The whole situation was putting off bad vibes, but Flicker and Flash pushed through with welcoming smiles. These weren't bad kids, maybe they were just having a rough day. Socket certainly didn't seem in the best shape, and it didn't look like Gear had bothered to shave. Best to continue being their friendly selves.

"We just need to look at it," Flicker said. "Check and make sure there's no bits of Brainiac hiding out in there." The kids shared a look before Gear responded.

"We don't have it with us."

"Then we'll go get it," Flash responded, smile growing wider, "fastest pair alive, remember?" The fact it took time for Gear to respond, that he almost looked like he might be eyeing them, was worrying, but finally he and his turned to leave the alley.

"Follow us."

* * *

"Who do you think would lose their minds first, Raven or Lauretta?"

"I think that'd be about tied." Flash kicked a soda can towards a corner. "So, computer?"

"BacPac is around here somewhere…" The fact his tone was still that of neutral disinterest remained creepy, but the boy was looking around. Flash chuckled at him as Flicker settled in next to a stationary Socket.

"You should get a utility belt, Batman can always find everything." The prairie dog laughed.

"Yeah, you boys should've seen, one time he-" With a squeak she was cut off as suddenly large jaws clamped around her middle, a sound only overshadowed by Flash's shout of alarm as he was also trapped in the sudden grasp of a machine. Immediately both went into flight mode, Flicker trembling as hard as she could manage with sharp canine teeth digging into her sides as Flash spun and dashed about the room.

"Get this thing off!" he cried as he slammed into tire racks, desks, cabinets, walls, anything to try to shake BacPac loose. Nothing worked. Flicker stayed trapped and Flash's attempted were ended with a cable suddenly binding itself around his legs. His daemon gave a high-pitched whine as he collapsed against a table. "Get me out of this!"

It looked, for a second, like there might be hope. Emotion came to Gear's face, fear and concern, and he opened his mouth only for vicious teeth to snap and his eyes to flash yellow before that cold look fell back over him. He and Socket's eyes both began to glow green as he loomed over Flash.

"There is no way out, Flash. No one escapes from Brainiac."

* * *

"Holy shit…"

"Either they threw one hell of a party without us or an earthquake hit."

Richie and Abe had disappeared at lunch, again. It was getting old, and even more worrying, but they were still trying to hold out hope, had crossed their fingers that they would find them here at the base this time. But no, all there was was a massive mess. Broken furniture, debris strewn about, it looked like a tornado had gone through, and for all Virgil's quips both of their immediate thoughts were that their security, little that it was, had been breached. Worse, that Richie and Abe might have been there at the time.

"Richie? Abe?"

"You guys here?"

"No." Both teens jumped, immediately glad they'd changed before coming here as they lit up with sparks and took a defensive stance. "Easy, Sparky, we're on your side." The sight of the Caped Crusader didn't really help much, they were not in the mood for, pretty much anything really, but Raven's friendly whistle and the whirling yip Onthar gave as more of the League followed the hero into the building did.

"Batman," Static sighed, "we didn't expect to be seeing you guys again so soon. If you came for the party, I'm thinking it's over." It was clear from the looks on their faces the visit wasn't nearly that social.

"Your friends are missing," Hawkgirl said, "and so are ours."

"Flash and Flicker came down here a few hours ago," Green Lantern continued, "to take a look at Gear's computer. We haven't heard from him since."

"It's very suspicious."

"Wait." Jolt stepped forward cautiously, ears swiveling. Logically there wouldn't be any enemies here while the League was, just there was still plenty of jackrabbit to her. "What would they want with BacPac?"

"We wanted to be sure Brainiac didn't stowaway in it during his takeover of the Tower," Riezen said. "It was supposed to be a quick scan, maybe a wipe if he had, nothing that would take so long."

"And now they're both missing…" Static didn't like where this was going, and from the sparks starting to come off Jolt's ears neither did she. If Brainiac had stowed away in BacPac then- He shook his head. "Hold up, let me try to get ahold of Gear. He's been kidnapped before, the two could be unrelated." He pulled out his shockvox, waving it slightly for the League to see with a proud smile. They were mostly unimpressed, though Onthar did pretend and who could really tell with Raven's cowl.

"Call him, Static," Jolt said and he nodded.

"Yeah."

It took too long for Gear to respond, long enough to set them on edge, and when he did respond he, he didn't sound right.

" _What is it, Static?_ " The annoyance was actually an improvement on what they'd _been_ dealing with, but something wasn't- they could understand, but the words clearly weren't forming right.

"The Justice League's here and they need to see BacPac. Are you okay?"

" _I'm fine. We're at the abandoned steelmill, working on a special project, you should come see._ " Static shared a discomforted look with Jolt, and then shot it at the League.

"Focus Gear. League? Here? They need to look at BacPac."

" _BacPac is with me. Come meet us here, all of you._ " There were a lot of instincts battling in Static at that. On the one hand, he was worried about his friend and wanted to make certain Gear and Socket were alright. On the other, he'd been a hero long enough and read enough comic books to know this couldn't end well. One look at Jolt made it clear she, unsurprisingly, felt the same. But when he looked to Batman, a silent plea for advice, the more experienced hero nodded.

"Okay. We'll be right over."

* * *

The steel mill was eerily dark but not dusty, like someone had gone through the trouble of wiping everything down, but not the trouble of getting the electricity turned back on. What was even more odd was that Static and Jolt could taste the electricity in the walls even as Green Lantern and Lauretta lit the way. Why would they be working in a dark building? Why clean it so thoroughly but not bother to turn on the lights? The questions and the green glow left the walk through the mill feeling ominous, each glowing piece of scrap metal and strange shadow raising the tension until, by the time they entered the main work floor, Static was done.

"Okay, somebody needs to flip a switch," he said, sending a bolt of electricity through the nearest light fixture and immediately wishing he hadn't. As the lights came on they revealed massive amounts of towering machinery, fancier than anything he'd ever seen Gear build before and with none of the little flairs Socket insisted on including. Like somebody had taken the control rooms and shipyards of their favorite scifi series and combined them into a working whole. His stomach twisted.

"We are fucked, we are fucked, we are fucked," Jolt muttered, paranoia thriving under the view as she pressed herself against his leg.

"There's no way a high schooler made this," Lauretta said, a growl to her words. They could almost feel everybody's hackles raise. Even Batman sounded tense as he gave the group a "Stay alert", Raven tense on his shoulders.

"Hey guys." It was a surprise nobody jumped when Flash blurred onto the scene, all smiles and with his daemon a few heartbeats behind. "Miss me?"

"Where have you been?" Green Lantern was the first to move forward, followed closely by Onthar. Attention would've shown the daemons' focuses differing from their people's.

"With Richie and his computer." Jolt shoved against Static's legs with all her strength, which wasn't much, but enough to get him shuffling backwards. He hissed a quick "What's wrong?" down to her, but she didn't respond, merely continued to stare towards-

"Flick?" Onthar was the first of the daemons to openly speak, inching closer to his friend. "Are you alright?" Now that they looked, she didn't seem to be. She was there and whole, no Dust drifting away, but her eyes were, almost like she was _dead_. "Flicker?"

Flash grinned, eyes glowing green, and in a blur everything seemed to stop. Static couldn't see, or hear, or feel. It was like he'd suddenly found himself in a mass of cotton. Isolated in himself. The moment was brief, but when the 'cotton' fell away he still found himself disoriented.

"What just happened?" he asked aloud and was filled with dread when the only answer was a quiet groan from Jolt as she shook her head clear. The League was just, standing there around them, the heroes like statues even as he waved a hand in front of Batman to get a reaction, their daemons dead eyed, like zombies.

"I don't like this, Virg…" Nodding slowly, he scooped her up into his arms, eyes never leaving the adults.

"I gotta agree, Cammy…"

"Static." The familiar voices- and that just made it worse, the plural- made the stones in their stomachs grow heavier as they spun to see figures come out of the shadows that couldn't have been- Those were Richie's clothes, and the white paws were familiar, but it couldn't be them. "Your natural electrical field short-circuited my mind-control disks." Jolt accepted the connection and made the jump first, power arcing between her ears and antlers as she leapt back down to the floor with a growl.

"Brainiac."

The figures stepped into the light and any hope that may have been left vanished. The daemon was clearly Abraham, the wolf's white fur a unique trait in Dakota that made him identifiable even with the steel paneling that had taken up large portions of his body and the ominous green glow of his eyes. Richie though, if it hadn't been for the clothes, the wolf, the fact they'd known him since second grade, they wouldn't have recognized him. The same paneling covered most of his face, but what was left included a _muzzle_ of all things, short though it was, and a thick mass of fur, that still weren't as scary as the glowy eyes were.

"Richie!"

"Abe!"

"What did you do to them?!" They continued to come forward, as Static joined his daemon in sparking.

"Your friends are completely under our control." Richie's voice was no longer there, replaced entirely by Brainiac's, and it only served to make them spark more.

"I thought we wiped you out!"

"You delayed the inevitable," Del, in Abe's body, said, "we still intend to digitize the information on this planet, and then destroy it."

They were so close, this close, to attacking. To destroying the pair once and for all for threatening their home, invading their friends. But, they couldn't. It didn't look it but this was Richie, this was Abe, their friends, and innocent victims in this. They _couldn't_ fight them. _They_ couldn't.

"Richie, Abe, guys you've got to fight this!" It all made sense now, the sudden change, the impassivity, and those brief flashes of almost something.

"You've been trying, haven't you? You can do it, we know you can!" And for a glorious moment they could, their eyes clearing- Abe's to his normal grey and Richie's to a vibrant yellow. Whimpering, Abe forced a step forward, uttering a single "Cammy" before Del brought him back to heel with a sharp whine, settling back into position as if nothing had happened.

"Virgil-" Richie fared better, managing to drop his face into clawed hands. "Con-control. Control! Control!" Static grinned, even as Jolt pressed herself against him. This was where their hopes lay.

"That's it Richie!"

"You can do it!"

"C-Con-" There was a visible struggle as Brainiac wrested for control, hope blossoming into horror as Richie suddenly struck out, driving teeth as large and sharp as Abe's into his own shoulder. It was a terrible sight, him tearing a chunk out of his own flesh, but it seemed to work. He managed to turn back to them, mouth ringed and filled with blood, and growl out "-ote! Control! Get!" before the virus drove him back.

"Brainiac?" Del spared it's partner a glance as he returned to position, expression as neutral as ever, eyes glowing their evil green.

"It is under control," he said, then pointed at the young heroes. "Justice League, destroy them."

Never before had Static and Jolt been so clearly man and soul as when the Justice League turned and began to close in on them, eyes widening in unison as they backed away, matching step for step.

"Who, us? Hold on guys, we don't wanna have to hurt you," Virgil quipped, slipping a hand behind his back when they gave no indication of having so much as heard him.

"Guess it sounded as lame to them as it did to me."

"Hush you." They stepped back onto the freshly dropped Static Saucer as one, flying up in a trail of sparks and just avoiding Flash. A strong blast took out one of the building's skylights, giving them a path to freedom, or at least to more space to maneuver. Unfortunately taking to the air wasn't enough to avoid members of the League and Hawkgirl was quickly on their tail, Onthar draped dully around her shoulders like a weird mink.

"Do you have a license for that mace?"

"Static!"

"Listen, I'll stop quipping-" He took a sharp dive just as Jolt leapt skywards and grinned when Hawkgirl followed him, leaving her open to an attack from his daemon right on that control disc. While the hero stopped and regained her bearings, he was swinging back up to catch Jolt. "-when you stop being a pessimist."

"What happened," Hawkgirl asked, raising a hand to touch Onthar as he groaned back to the land of the living.

"No time," Jolt answered, "we can short out the control discs on you guys. Help us get the rest?" The older pair looked down, where the rest of the League team was gathering. Onthar hissed.

"Of course."

With a nod the pairs dove into the fray. Hawkgirl beelined for Batman, knocking away batarangs with her mace until they were close enough for Jolt to leap into view, shocking his control disc like she had Hawkgirl's before, a maneuver that brought them close enough for Onthar to pounce on Flicker, drawing out an instinctive protectiveness that distracted Flash enough for Static to strike. But of course it couldn't remain that simple. J'onn and Green Lantern were next, both capable of flight and more than up to the job of chasing as Static and Hawkgirl scooped their daemons back up and rose higher and higher.

"J'onn and Riezen can handle Green Lantern with ease," Hawkgirl said, swooping under Static to avoid a blast of energy, "but we need to get them first." Easier said than done. They didn't doubt they could do it, just a solid shock like the rest since he couldn't go intangible without dropping his daemon to their deaths, but they couldn't get a clear shot with Green Lantern alongside him…

"See if you can get Lauretta to stay in place," Jolt said, "tether them!" Hawkgirl and Onthar shared a look, then a nod, and dropped away. They didn't bother to watch and see what they tried, instead making a sharp turn and dive, hoping to get cover between them and Green Lantern. Between the pairs the plan seemed to work, the blasts of energy stopped coming and soon it was just them and J'onn.

 _Now_ it was easy. Static hit the brakes and put out a sparking hand and the Martian practically ran right into them. J'onn shook his head clear as Riezen's color returned.

"Static…"

"We need your help," by now Jolt was all sparks all the time, "we need to get Green Lantern contained so we can free him from Brainiac's control." J'onn nodded, and Riezen flashed a series of deep colors.

"Leave that," the mollusk daemon said, "to me."

* * *

It was actually surprisingly easy. The rest of the League's daemons had piled onto Lauretta, who didn't have enough mind to her in the moment to shake them off, which left Green Lantern safely stuck close to the ground. All Static and Jolt had needed to do was distract him for the four or five seconds it took for Riezen to get close to his fellow daemon and use his own mental powers to lull her to sleep. They'd been left staring as their hero collapsed into J'onn and Hawkgirl's arms.

"Do you guys do housecalls?"

* * *

Once everyone was back together, safe, sane, and awake, the group found themselves on top of a warehouse near the steel mill. It seemed the best place to regroup, and keep an eye on the enemy.

"While I was under Brainiac's mindcontrol," J'onn said, Riezen curled along the hollow of this throat, all the daemons were sticking extra close right not, "I tried to make telepathic contact with Gear. All I could hear was one word, 'control', being repeated over and over."

"That's what he said to us too," Static said, "he must be trying to tell us something. Like how to stop Brainiac."

"He said 'control'," Jolt added, "and 'get', and something else that was hard to make out."

"That's not exactly a lot to go on," Hawkgirl said, and they both had to admit she was right. But…

"It's better than nothing." It was, they just needed to figure out what he was trying to say, but the League gave them a hard look.

"Meanwhile," Batman said, in a tone that implied it wasn't really a 'meanwhile' at all, "we need to stop Brainiac at all costs." Raven tugged at his cowl with a hiss and Jolt came forward.

"Except Richie and Abe," she said, in a 'that is final' tone she learned from Mr Hawkin's Emily. Green Lantern met her step for step, regret in his eye.

"We'll do everything we can, but-" Jolt stomped her foot, sparking.

"Except. Richie. And. A-"

The steel mill exploded. First the windows burst out in a flash of flame, then the building itself collapsed to reveal a mass of metal. A ship, with trailing tentacles, rising up out of the rubble. It was in the shape of Brainiac's head. They could all only watch as it rose up, up, and the eyes began to glow a green that would probably never stop sickening them, releasing a beam in which two of the other warehouses simply vanished.

"See what we mean, kids?" Lauretta said. "This is bigger than one pair."

This was, something else. The Big Bang had been a disaster, but at least it had been- at least you'd known it had happened. You could look around Dakota and see evidence of it, go to the docks and there was still scars. With this, with this everything was just, gone. Vanished like it'd never even been there. Before they'd needed to figure out how to stop Brainiac, how to save their friends and the world, but as the speedsters ran to survey the damage as it happened and Batman called on the Javelin the need became frantic.

"Come on, Cam, we're smart, we can figure this! It had an 'o'!"

"And 'o' and _something_ , a 't' maybe? God, Abe will never let us live this down…"

"It's Richie's fault for growing a muzzle when we needed to understand him. 'O', 't', 'o', ote-" Light bulb. "Remote!" Jolt just about jumped out of her skin where they were knelt, paying no mind to Flash and Flicker's return, twisting in the air in relief.

"'Get the remote control', of course, we're _morons_!"

"I blame videogames." Virgil leapt to his feet with a grin, turning to the League as they headed onto their ship. "Guys! Guys, we figured it out! We know how to stop Brainiac!" Which, if nothing else, got their attention.

"How," Batman asked, and they could've sworn Raven was beaming from his shoulder, which only encouraged them.

"If Brainiac's based in BacPac, then if we get his remote control we can shut him- and Brainiac- down!"

"We need to go back to our base, it's probably there!" The League shared a look among themselves, though not a disapproving one, and Green Lantern stepped forward.

"It's a better plan than we've got," he said and Batman nodded alongside him.

"Flash, Flicker, go find the remote-"

"It'll be white, all sleek and shit, green buttons."

"-you two, get in the ship."

* * *

The view wasn't any better from the air. There didn't really appear to be any rhyme or reason to the order in which Brainiac was digitizing things- unless maybe he had a phone book and was doing it alphabetically- which meant that there were just, empty spaces where things had once stood. Blank spots in the city that screamed Wrong to them as they passed. Static kept a tight grip on BacPac's remote, his arm secure around Jolt as she huddled in his lap. Both were making themselves watch. They were heroes, this was their city, they had to.

"I'm thinking," Lauretta said, "the eyes are probably the weak spot." Flash and Flicker scoffed as one.

"Maybe if they blink, right now they don't look too inviting." The dog daemon and hers gave them a look, and Green Lantern's grip tightened on the controls.

"Hold on." Just about everybody on the ship stopped breathing at that point, because the most courageous man on Earth flew them _directly into_ one of the digitizing beams. He and Lauretta put up a ring-powered shield around them as the ship faded away, but that didn't help all that much given how clearly they were struggling to keep it up. All in all, there ended up being hardly enough time for a "Brace for impact" from Hawkgirl before they were colliding with one of the ship's eyes, crashing through and landing in a pile of debris inside.

"Lauretta, sweetie," Flicker said as they all gathered their bearings, "next time you two have a plan, _warn us first_ , please-thank." Batman and Raven were, of course, the first to be right as rain, immediately taking charge.

"We need to find the control room," he said and almost before he was done Flash and Flicker were off, leaving the rest of them to all sigh in that 'why do we love them' way everyone is familiar with and follow behind. They were fast, but not all that difficult to find, especially when they got blasted out of a room towards the end of a hallway.

"So?" Flash nodded as he got back to his feet, the rest of the group crowding around him.

"Control room." And apparently either Brainiac or Del was inside, because as he said it robots in Brainiac's image began to, form out of the walls? It was strange and some of them were getting stuck and Static couldn't help giggling, knowing when he heard Jolt do so as well they were picturing the same thing.

Ebon stuck in a wall.

"This isn't a laughing matter, Static," Batman said, grabbing his arm just long enough to tug him towards the door. "Come on!" With the other watching their backs, and Raven swooping down on any robot who got too close with sharp claws and vicious warcroaks, Batman blasted their way inside.

The boys weren't there. Instead there were two massive robots, one humanoid wearing BacPac, clearly Brainiac from that ugly-ass face, and one a mass of tentacles and arms, likely Del. They stood on a platform on the opposite end of the room, a screen before them displaying the chaos they were wrecking on Dakota. Before the quartet could act, the pair turned to them, eyes glowing, and tentacle cables reached down for them from the ceiling. Static, Batman, and Jolt were easily caught, the tentacles snatching the remote from Static's hands and passing it off to Brainiac. Raven avoided the assault, but the distance between her partner and the robots was too great for it to be of us.

"Foolish humans, you are in our house now." Static and Jolt both snarled as they struggled, the daemon's ears swiveling frantically.

"Where's Richie and Abe?!" Please be alright, please be alright-

"With us."

"They see everything, know everything." As the robots spoke, they opened, revealing familiar forms strapped inside. Both were barely conscious, Richie was still a mass of fur and his own blood, but they were alive.

"Richie," Static called out, "shut him down! Hit the remote!" And he tried, baring sharp teeth with a groan and attempting to swipe his claws in the right direction, but it was to no avail. He went limp again with a whine that Abe mirrored.

"Unfortunately for you," Brainiac said, closing himself back up, "he can do nothing. No one can. Especially after I destroy this." He raised the remote and Static took his chance. Small target, no time to aim, just instinct, skill, and electricity's tendency to head for other sources. Fingers crossed…

It was a direct hit.

A surge went through the remote and immediately the control panel began to spark and flash, as did the robots' eyes. It was a mess of light and energy, the tentacles dropping their captives to the floor just before everything final stopped and Brainiac and Del, stiff as mannequins, fell.

Virgil and Cam didn't wait, as soon as the robots started to go they were on their feet and running forward, the League close behind. They didn't really notice what was going on with them, just that Flash suddenly passed Virgil by, making quick work of the mass of metal that had been Brainiac while the daemons and J'onn ripped into Del. The boy and jackrabbit were practically latched to their friends' sides as soon as they were revealed, out cold, reeking of ozone, but alive. There was a whirring noise and unintelligible babbling as Hawkgirl lifted Richie free, the fur and muzzle already beginning to fade away, and Batman began shedding his cape to make a sling for Abe.

"Brainiac is rebooting," he said, "we have to act fast."

"We'll take it from here!" J'onn was already tearing up chunks of metal. Green Lantern and Lauretta beginning to blast away. "You get the children out!"

And so they did, those that could fly hauling those that could not and leaving the four to do as much damage as they could before escaping, allowing the ship to crash and explode in the bay.

* * *

Richie was awake, bandaged, and _not_ covered in fur, laying on his back on a table they'd set up in the gas station with J'onn's hands on either side of his head. Abe was in a similar position, from a canine perspective, laid beside the bed where Richie could reach him, Riezen's tentacles on his shoulders and hips. The main difference between the two being that while Virgil was hovering a few feet away to avoid touching anybody's daemons, Cam had set herself up right by Abe's side and spent every moment she could grooming him with the help of Onthar.

"I sense nothing of Brainiac within him, Richie should be fine."

"And Abe as well."

"Well thank fuck." Rolling his eyes at his daemon, though he agreed with every syllable, Virgil grinned.

"Hey, while you're in there, can you tell me where he left my Lil' Romeo cd?" J'onn smiled back.

"It seems he gave it back to you last month."

"Hah!" Richie said, grinning back as he rolled himself off the table, "told ya!" He dropped to the floor immediately, pulling Abe's head into his lap- forcing Cam to move on to the wolf's hind leg- and turning to look towards the other side of the room. "What about BacPac?"

"We're running one final check," Hawkgirl said, "just to be sure Brainiac is out of his system."

"You'll have to reprogram your robot, but he should be okay." Richie chewed his lip as Batman said it, toying with one of Abe's ears as he whined and buried his head against his belly.

"Listen, um, I wanted to thank everyone for saving us." Abe fidgeted.

"We're not sure what to say…"

"Hey, it's nothing less than you would've done for us, right?" Flash grinned as well, and Flicker squeaked an agreement from under his arm.

"We're very proud of you, you know." All four teens jumped at those first words any of them had ever heard out of Raven. The crow hopped over to join them as Batman came closer, starting in on preening the younger daemons. " _All_ of you. Over the last week you've proven yourselves to be brave, strong, smart, and loyal."

"Yeah," Green Lantern chimed in, "for rookies you've done well. But we can tell, you're gonna be handfuls when you join the League." Static and Richie perked at the words, eyes going wide. Their daemons were a little too preoccupied with the fact Raven was still talking ("Really, taking down Brainiac and Del _twice_ , at your ages, you did very good-") to do the same, but their ears swiveled in the right direction.

"I'm sorry, w _hen_ we join the league?" Virgil was grinning like a cat in the milk jar and Richie like a fox in a chicken coop. The adults chuckled, and Flash clapped Static on the shoulder while Batman handed BacPac back to his rightful owner.

"Anything is possible. When you're older."

"And of course we'll be replacing Richie's shirts so don't you worry about that-" Closing his eyes, Batman sighed.

"Are you _finished_ , Raven?" His daemon gave him the side eye before flying back to her spot on his shoulder to tug on his cowl.

"No, I am not," she said, then turned back to the children as Abe and Cam took their places between their boys, "if you kids need anything, anything at all, you let us know. Alright?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Definitely." Batman sighed again and shook his head before smiling at the quartet.

"Goodbye, and be careful," he said, then turned to follow his team out and away like nothing had even happened. The building fell quiet, the young heroes basking in their relief, their hero worship, hopes for the future. Camilla was the one to break the silence.

"So," she said, "I think we may have been adopted by The Raven." Abe nodded, and Virgil and Richie shared a look over their heads. With a smile and a chuckle, Virgil shrugged.

"Well, weirder things _have_ happened lately."


End file.
